Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US) the quality of effeminacy, weakness, thus homosexuality.

1946		Forum 106249: [F]athers feel the kid might go too far and turn into a character with a limp wrist.
1959		Men’s Wear 139 59: This always infuriates and frequently frightens producers and purveyors of the authentic natural shoulder garments because some [...] of the jiveyIvy wearers are apt to strike their blow for identity with a limp wrist.
2020		(con. 1991-94) W. Boyle City of Margins 18: ‘That was fucked, Donnie,’ Sottile says. Donnie snaps back at Sottile: ‘You got a bad streak of limp-wrist in you, you know that?’.

2. (also bent wrist, limp wrister) a male homosexual.

1953		W. Winchell On Broadway 14 Apr. [synd. col.] The Stork Club is the top exception [to ‘bird’ names suggesting a gay club]. Billingsley bars limp-wristers.
1954		W. Winchell On Broadway 8 Feb. [synd. col.] Lord Montagu’s acquittal (in Lpondon) on ‘moralks charges’ was ordered by the Crown when it learned he planned involvijng many British limp-wristers, including in-laws of The Royal Family.
1957		She (Atlanta, GA) Dec. 25: [pic. caption] Female impersonation, old hat in this country [i.e. US] has been given a new twist by Gallic limp-wristers.
1962		N.Y. Theatre Critics’ Reviews 23-24 299: Cliff Halle had a lot of the customers roaring as the limp- wrister who goes straight .
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 27: limp wrist (n.): A characteristic of effeminate homosexuals; thus, such a person.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 72: stereotype effeminate homosexual [...] bentwrist. [Ibid.] 73: limpwrist.
1972		D. Jenkins Semi-Tough 242: I reminded her that Boke Kellum was a limp wrist. But she said [...] it didn’t matter because he was so nice and attentive and gentle .
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 51: A real nelly faggot came to the door [...] a short, skinny limp wrist.
1984		D. Jenkins Life Its Ownself (1985) 150: He recommends losing all references to ‘dykes’ and ‘limp wrists.’.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak 93: Limp wrist – an effeminate person, a homosexual.
1997		E. Walshe Sex, Nation & Dissent 248: chorus: Nancy boy, fancy boy, beef bandit, fairy cake / Shirt-lifter, limp-wrister, / Ain't you got what it takes?
2004		J. Strand Out of Whack 73: ‘Homo, faggot, queer, limp-wrister, fairy, fruit, flamer, poofter, weak-fisted Nancy boy—I've heard them all, and I'm immune. They're just words. They don't mean anything’.
2008		V. Plumb The Cape 6: ‘Not to say that I'm a limp-wrister or anything like that [...] I know how you feel about homos, Arthur’.
2008		S. Lewis Bad Traffic 148: ‘I’m not some wooly woofter [...] Not some fucking...queeney limp wrist’.
2015		M.V. Smith My Body is Yours [ebook] Because I was a limp-wrister, the boys never wanted me on any of their lunch-hour sports teams.

3. attrib. use as effeminate or homosexual; thus limp wrist set, the world of homosexuality.

1950		Berkshire (MA) Eve. Eagle 18 Sept. ?/2: Manifestations of this [i.e. increasing homosexuality at the State Dept.] are seen in the number of jokes about the limp-wrist set, and the occasional reports of homosexuals.
1957		Jet 26 Dec. 47: Harlem plainsclothes men detailed to patrol a 125th St. bar and grill, which is city-wide headquarters for the limp wrist set. When propositioned by swishers [...] cops haul them off to the nearest station house.
1957		J. Adams Cindy & I 24: Came the sudden realization that he was attracting the attention of the Limp Wrist Set . Some of the gay boys even waved . When one lavender lad made eyes at him , he decided it was time to return home.
1976		in Woodward & Bernstein The Final Days 197: He joked that Nixon and Bebe Rebozo had a homosexual relationship, imitating what he called the President’s limp-wrist manner.

4. (also limp-wrister) a weakling, a social ‘liberal’.

1989		Plays Int’l 5 10: No limp-wrister he, but the most vehement of several bigots.
1991		M.B. ‘Chopper’ Read Chopper From The Inside 59: For all the limp wrists who think that hanging is a barbaric page of history from the dark ages some conditions should be made.